Affiliation
Joining the Essex Football Club Community
club affiliatION DETAILS FOR 2024/25 SEASON
Commencing from 5th June
Towards the end of each season, attention turns to the affiliation process for the following campaign.
Affiliation takes place in the Club Portal, which clubs will be familiar with as the home of Player Registration and England Football Accreditation. Through the FA model, and in-line with the evolving landscape of football, a “team fee”, rather than a “club + team fee” model, has been introduced.
Regional National Feeder League (Step 7) and below
There has been no change to this for 2024/25, which is a flat grassroots fee of £17 per team for all teams at Regional National Feeder League (Step 7) level and below.
English Football League and National League System
Team fees for clubs within the English Football League (EFL) and National League System (NLS) are as follows: EFL teams £500, NLS Step 1 & 2 teams £250, NLS Step 3 & 4 teams £150 and NLS Step 5 & 6 teams £100.
Insurance Partner: Sportsguard
Our partnership with Sportsguard Insurance is also continuing, so grassroots clubs can benefit from excellent and competitive personal accident insurance and public liability insurance during the affiliation process.
For the 2024/25 season, the Essex County FA will continue to support clubs and teams with these costs by completely subsidising the cost of public liability insurance at £25 per club, and will also provide an £8 contribution per team, towards personal accident insurance costs, when these products are purchased through Sportsguard Insurance. Clubs and teams who operate above Regional National Feeder League level will need to liaise with their respective leagues regarding the minimum levels of insurance required.
We feel this provides a consistent and streamlined offering for our member clubs and teams, whilst continuing to minimise financial costs in the current climate, as well as continuing to provide financial support towards the insurance-related aspects, which are required as part of the affiliation process.
Please ensure all club debts are settled prior to undertaking the affiliation process. Clubs with overdue debts will not be able to make immediate payment for affiliation.
You can complete the mandatory Safeguarding Declaration immediately via ‘My Club’ and then the ‘Documentation’ tab. You’ll then need to view the document before you can accept the declaration.
It is now mandatory for all managers and coaches of youth teams to have completed Safeguarding Children Training.
Once your committee has confirmed its club and team officials (including a Club Welfare Officer for Open-Age teams), they can be updated immediately via the Club Portal, and you do not need to wait for the affiliation window to open to do this.
All clubs with open-age teams are required to name a Club Welfare Officer (Adult Teams). You can assign an existing offer, or appoint a new individual to this role, via the ‘Key Officials’ tab within the ‘Officials’ menu.
By clicking the ‘Teams’ menu, you can easily see whether each team is compliant with FA regulations. A green circle with a green tick against your ‘Officials’, ’Qualifications’ and ‘Team Ground’ means the team is ready to be affiliated once the window opens. An exclamation mark in a yellow circle means action is required.
You can already select your team grounds within the Club Portal. Once you have updated your team grounds from the ‘My Club’ menu, be sure to assign the correct teams to the correct grounds as this will speed-up your affiliation once the window is open.
Please ensure all teams have a manager listed prior to beginning the affiliation process. Individuals already connected to the club can be selected from the drop-down menu and new individuals can be located or created via the search functionality.
County Cup Entry: There is a change to the County Cup entry process for Saturday, Sunday and Under 13s competitions. Rather than teams applying to enter a specific competition, there will be a single option to enter Saturday, Sunday or Under 13s Cups.
The Essex County FA will then assign the team to the appropriate competition, identified through our County Cups 'pyramid' and the constitutions provided by each league. For all County Cup entries, invoices will be raised by the Essex County FA once the relevant team is affiliated.
These will be required to be paid by Wednesday 31st July 2024 to ensure the team is entered into County Cups. Where teams may be required to be in a competition with a higher entry fee, we will raise a separate invoice and notify clubs of this.
Any Questions? If you have a question regarding the affiliation process, please contact the relevant member of our Affiliations Team:
Group One (Braintree, Colchester, Maldon, Tendring): Paige Wakefield (01245) 393081 or paige.wakefield@essexfa.com
Group Two (Brentwood, Chelmsford, Epping Forest, Harlow, Uttlesford): Martin Angelo (01245) 393080 or martin.angelo@essexfa.com
Group Three (Basildon, Castle Point, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock): Robert Craven (01245) 393082 or robert.craven@essexfa.com
Group Four (Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Waltham Forest): Andy Sargent (01245) 393083 or andy.sargent@essexfa.com
If there are any changes to the affiliation details for your club during the season, such as a change of an officer, or your home ground, we would recommend ensuring these details for your teams are kept up-to-date on the Club Portal to ensure the smoothest affiliation process each season. If you have any queries about affiliations for next season, please don’t hesitate to contact your local Football Services Officer or check our FAQs section below.
For the 2024/25 season, the affiliation process will be undertaken via the Club Portal and not the Whole Game System. Log-in details will be same.
The affiliation process is scheduled to open on 5th June. The Essex County FA will contact all existing clubs and new clubs who have been in contact previously to advise when this can be accessed.
Only individuals who are deemed as ‘Key Officials’ will be able to undertake the affiliation process. These roles are:
* Secretary
* Chairperson
* Treasurer
* Club Welfare Officer
No. The County Cup process can be completed at any time after the affiliation window has opened, until 31st July.
No, affiliation numbers will not be issued via the Club Portal. Leagues, and your County FA, will be able to view the ‘Affiliation Status’ of each team, which will be updated the moment changes are made.
From the ‘Teams’ menu, click on ‘Manage County Cups’ in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Only those County Cup competitions which each team may be able to enter will be shown.
We will be raising invoices for County Cup entries once each team has been affiliated.
From the ‘Teams’ menu, click on ‘Manage Competitions’ and select ‘Remove from League’ to remove your existing membership. Then return to ‘Manage Competitions’ and select ‘Assign to League’ from the drop-down menu. You will only be able to make a change to your league whilst there are no registered players assigned to the team.
Yes, you can take out public liability and personal accident insurance through the Essex County FA’s recommended provider, Sportsguard, during the affiliation process under the ‘Club Insurance’ and ‘Team Insurance’ stages.
If a club elects to take out public liability and personal accident insurance through the Essex County FA’s recommended provider, Sportsguard, during the affiliation process, and the club has no overdue debts, an invoice will be raised automatically at the end of the process.
Unless specifically sanctioned by the Essex County FA, eleven-a-side football is not permitted in June. But, from 1st July, teams can begin playing fixtures providing their ‘Affiliation Status’ shows that they are affiliated.
You can complete the mandatory Safeguarding Declaration immediately via ‘My Club’ and then the ‘Documentation’ tab. You’ll then need to view the document before you can accept the declaration.
No, you can stagger the submission of teams depending on those which are ready to be affiliated. This prevents an affiliation being held up due to one team having a non-compliant official.
No. For the 2024/25 season, all invoices must be paid in full and cannot be broken down.
Affiliation Support
You can find an introduction to the affiliation process on The FA’s Grassroots Technology Knowledge Base by clicking here.
Guidance about the various requirements depending on the type of teams that are being affiliated is also available by clicking here. The FA Technology Adoption Team previously ran a one-hour session explaining the process for clubs. You can watch a recording of that session by clicking here.